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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

7 Things I've Come to Realize in 7 Years of Tweeting

My 7-year birthday on Twitter (@blogboy2) is coming up. ("Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you...") It happens on November 14th to be exact. (You can send presents if you like.)

And I was thinking I should pop up a few quick thoughts on my tweeting experience these going on 2,555 days (7 years times 365).

And so this is what came to my mind...

MORE PEOPLE START AND QUIT THAN KEEP GOING.

I think it's mostly because of not knowing what to do and / or not being able to break through what I call the "connection barrier." I remember in school (in Junior High especially) the challenge, if you weren't part of the "in" crowd, to connect in relationships. And then if you were kind of a nerd / had a personality and/or "looks" flaw, etc, how much harder it was. Bottom line, I had no idea the wonderful connections / friends that awaited me in the Twittersphere. If I would have quit, I would have missed out.

PEOPLE LIKE TO BE FOLLOWED.

I can't count how many times people have tweeted back to me, "Thanks for the follow, Mike." It does something when a person follows you on Twitter. (Not a spambot, a person.) You go and read their bio and you see "Ph.D." or "Former chief evangelist of Apple" or "An extraordinarily humble blogger" (that's mine) and it makes you sit up in your chair and think, "Wow. I wonder what they see in me?" Right? It makes you feel good. It makes you feel like you're a part. It's a good feeling.

SOMETIMES THE GURUS DON'T EVEN PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH.

Yeah, they'll tell you (harp on?) how important it is to engage with others, but have they ever talked with you? The truth is they may have (and many do) and they may not have. Bottom line, just like in real (offline) life, you can just have so many close-knit relationships as a single human being. Maybe a dozen (or so)? Maybe a tiny bit more (if you neglect your wife and kids)? And how do you measure "engagement" any way? Which of the elite decides?

YOU CAN'T / CAN MAKE PEOPLE ENGAGE WITH YOU.

That wasn't a mistake in typing. I really mean both. You can't make people engage (respond, interact) with you on Twitter (via social media) ~ and you can! Like anything else in life, you just get out there and be yourself ~ and some people will like it and some people won't. I've come to realize there are more of the first type.

THERE ARE SOME MEAN PEOPLE AND A TON OF FAKE ACCOUNTS.

Bottom line: I sure like that "block" button. :)

IT REALLY ISN'T / IS HARD TO GET LOTS OF FOLLOWERS.

That, too, wasn't a mistake in typing. I really mean both again. I wrote a blog post entitled: "7 Ways to Get People to Follow You on Twitter (simple version)" to explain how to gain more followers on Twitter (see bullet list below). I dubbed it "simple" because it shows how easy it is to grow one's followership (from my point of view)...

1. Follow them first.
2. Retweet something of theirs.
3. Compliment them on their bio or respond to something you've read that they've tweeted.
4. Shout them out in a tweet on Follow Friday (include the hashtag #FF and their twitter name).
5. Tweet a link to an article that might interest them and carbon copy their name (ex. cc @blogboy2).
6. Create your own blog content, make it great and tweet links to it.
7. Be yourself.

On the other hand, it IS hard to get lots of followers. Your tweets need to be interesting. Your blog content (of which you are tweeting links to) needs to be worthwhile so that people think, "I need to follow this person so I don't miss his (her) stuff." In other words (and it's not trite to say it), you need to add value to others via Twitter. And that takes work, work and more work.

DON'T HAVE ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET.

This might sound as an odd point to close with. But after 7 years of tweeting, one must consider that Twitter won't be around forever (nothing ever is). And so, along with investment in tweeting and followership, etc, it is important to also have a back up social media platform in case Twitter diminishes. Of course for me that's my blog. But beyond that (and not to overlook Facebook, etc) I've been building an email list using Sumome.com. (I am NOT an affiliate marketer.) The single great point about email lists is you own yours. All the different social media sites could disappear overnight, but you'll still have your email list. Make sense?